Robert smiled and shook his head. "Just take it. It’s not like we can’t get more Gene Potentials."
Kevin finally nodded and absorbed it. Like Tina before him, he quietly read the messages that appeared before his eyes. When he looked up again, he already had his answer.
"I chose Mage."
Alex nodded. "I’ll teach you some spells later."
The three of them opened the Reward Boxes they had received from their Tutorial Quests. Tina obtained a Trash Rank knife that looked much sturdier than an ordinary kitchen knife.
Rae received a box of bullets, although Alex immediately noticed they weren’t compatible with the rifle she carried. He guessed Rae had chosen the Rogue Class.
Kevin’s Reward Box contained a simple sleeping band. At first glance, it looked almost useless, and Kevin couldn’t hide the confusion on his face.
"It says it lets me sleep peacefully," Kevin said.
"It’ll be much more useful than you think. People won’t be sleeping well once monsters become common. Even when they’re exhausted, fear alone will keep many survivors awake, so an item like that will become surprisingly valuable," Alex replied.
Kevin nodded before storing it away. The others also seemed to understand its usefulness after hearing Alex’s explanation.
"Everyone, pick up a few pieces of rubble. Whenever I stop a monster, throw the stones at it. If simply contributing to the fight lets you awaken, then great. If not, we’ll just use the Gene Potentials that drop afterward," Alex said as he looked around the damaged street.
There was no reason for Alex to absorb Low Rank Gene Potentials himself.
They would be much more useful if his companions used them instead, allowing the entire group to become stronger together.
Everyone bent down and gathered chunks of broken concrete scattered across the road.
While they did that, Alex spent a few minutes teaching Tina how to use Aura. It turned out to be fairly simple once someone understood the basic idea, and she managed to activate it after only a few attempts.
Tina and Kevin had both received a second Tutorial Quest that required them to defeat a monster.
It was different from the quest Alex had received as a Pioneer, making him think Ascendants and Pioneers followed separate Tutorial paths.
They would probably receive a quest to join or create a faction afterward, and if that happened, he intended to have them join his.
As the group resumed walking, Alex stopped practicing the Battle Instinct Spell. It demanded too much concentration, and if a monster attacked while he was distracted, even a small mistake could cost him his life.
Instead, he switched to training Mana Thread Spell.
Thin strands of mana wrapped around his fingers before he made them vibrate rapidly until they resembled translucent claws. The spell was only one level away from evolving, so every opportunity to practice mattered.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t satisfied with the results. He could feel the spell’s proficiency increasing, but his personal control over it wasn’t improving at the same pace.
If the System continued carrying most of the burden, then once the spell evolved and disappeared from his status screen, he would lose that support and his mastery would actually decline.
The only solution was to discover a new way of using Mana Thread that demanded finer control than before. He already had an idea, but he needed actual monsters to test it.
The giant vultures circling high above weren’t suitable targets, so he simply waited for another opportunity.
It came only a few minutes later. Four Doom Bulls emerged from a side street ahead of them, and Alex couldn’t help thinking they looked far more like oversized buffaloes than bulls.
Then again, they were monsters, so applying Earth’s logic to them was probably pointless.
The monsters noticed the group almost immediately and charged forward. Their heavy hooves split the cracked concrete beneath them, causing Tina and the others to tense instinctively while Ophelia pulled Charlotta closer against her side.
"Stay calm. Just throw the stones when I tell you to," Alex said without looking back.
As he spoke, two empty mana bullet shells formed in front of him. He carefully compressed Fire-element mana inside them, adding only a little at a time.
With Mana Thread at Level 7, controlling the process had become noticeably easier than before.
He deliberately avoided filling them with too much mana. A full-powered Fire Bullet would destroy far more than the monsters, and the nearby building walls and abandoned cars would be caught in the explosion as well.
A problem quickly presented itself. While he knew how much mana it took to obliterate a portion of the street or only an entire Doom Bull, he had no idea how much was needed to blow off only its head.
If he could figure that out, he would save a considerable amount of mana in every battle. After estimating the amount as best as he could, Alex compressed the Fire-element mana into the two bullets and fired.
The Fire Bullets streaked through the air and struck the leading Doom Bulls squarely in the head.
Their skulls exploded instantly, although the flames burned more of their bodies than Alex had intended. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a good first attempt, and he silently memorized the amount of mana he used as the corpses crashed onto the road.
Behind him, Ophelia instinctively covered Charlotta’s eyes while holding her close. Her own face had gone pale, yet she forced herself to keep watching. She knew this was the reality they would have to survive from now on.
Alex continued walking forward calmly.
The third Doom Bull reached him a moment later, and he sidestepped at the last possible instant before swinging his sword.
The Mana Thread vibrating along the blade sliced cleanly through the monster’s neck, and it collapsed after taking only a few more steps.
A faint smile appeared on Alex’s face as he watched it fall. Not long ago, a single Level 10 monster could’ve forced him into a difficult fight, but now he could kill one almost effortlessly.
Additionally, carefully controlling the Fire Bullets increased their proficiency while teaching him more about managing their destructive power.
His gaze shifted to the last remaining Doom Bull. This was the one he had been looking forward to, not because it posed a threat, but because it would let him test a new idea with Mana Thread Spell.
..
Author’s Note: Add the novel to library, and send support if you like it!
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter